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Copyright levy would protect artists in a world of downloads

Is it possible in Canada to have a grown up conversation about copyright?

By Charlie AngusMP for Timmins-James Bay and New Democrat critic on digital issues

Tues., March 30, 2010

Is it possible in Canada to have a grown up conversation about copyright?

Such a conversation would start with the recognition that there's nothing new in trying to unravel the Gordian knot of copyright. The fight between those who want access and those want remuneration has been going on for decades.

The fight is always sparked by technological changes to the means of copying works. The only thing that has changed is the scope of those who are involved. In the digital world, we have all become makers of copies and users of content. Thus, we all have a stake in this conversation.

On March 16, I tried to kick-start this conversation by introducing a technical change to the copyright act. It focused on a key area that has been overlooked by the Conservative government in its badly flawed Bill C-61 copyright bill. My private member's bill, C-499, would extend the existing levy on cassettes and CDs to MP3 devices and iPods. That levy is a critical source of revenue for artists.

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Talk about kick-starting a conversation. The commentary on my bill went "viral" with hundreds of blog comments, posts and rants between industry players, students, artists and digital libertarians. Right in the thick of it was Heritage Minister James Moore, who scrambled onto Twitter for a quick comeback.

The Stephen Harper government exists in a nuance-free zone. Regardless of the issue, they always come back with a few boilerplate responses: love the troops; get tough on crime; fight taxes. Not surprisingly, Moore managed, in 140 characters or less, to define the issue of copyright as a dreaded socialist tax grab.

"We will fight this new tax every step of the way," Moore declared, "Canadians deserve lower taxes rather than higher."

The Tory war room then seized on the issue of the levy. They launched press releases, denunciations in the House and a wildly inaccurate mischaracterization of the actual provisions of the bill.

In fact, the Conservatives took it one step further by musing that since Canadian tax monies already support artistic programs like the Canada Council and the Canadian Music Fund, taxpayers should be somehow let off the hook for providing compensation for the copying of copyrighted works.

This is a position even the so-called Pirate Party (the Swedish-based group of peer-to-peer activists pushing to overturn copyright laws) has yet to adopt. The argument is that since taxes pay for some arts, copyright laws don't need to be respected.

The Conservatives don't appear to understand – although you'd think they would – that copyrighted work is a legal right defined by hundreds of years of legal and parliamentary tradition.

There are only two possible options for protecting artistic property: either you lock down and sue or you compensate.

Canadians have only to look south of the border to see the pyrrhic results of the litigation route. The U.S. entertainment industry has long blurred the distinction between commercial counterfeiters and ordinary music fans.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has led the war on "pirates" by slapping outrageous lawsuits against single moms, teenagers and even dead people. Their use of lawsuits and digital locks hasn't turned back the clock. Instead, it has alienated consumers and failed to compensate artists.

The other lockdown option is the new push to hold the company that you pay for your Internet connection (ISP) legally liable for what you download. The "three strikes" provisions would force your ISP to snoop on your every download while ratting you out for the vaguest possible "infringement."

Such moves will unfairly penalize ordinary citizens while stifling innovation. The Internet has provided citizens with unprecedented access to ideas and materials.

This is a social good that must be protected and nurtured. At the same time, we need to find ways to compensate artists for the fact that materials are downloaded and revenue is being lost.

Kick-starting the conversation about the levy and fair dealing is one way of trying to get these issues of balance discussed. It's time to move beyond the rhetoric and begin to look at how we make this digital world succeed.

This is an important conversation, but it needs to take place in a realm that allows for responses a little more thoughtful than 140-character tweets.

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